


There Is A Hell, Believe Me I've Seen It

by CassBurger



Category: RWBY
Genre: F/F, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-10
Updated: 2017-10-10
Packaged: 2019-01-15 15:03:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12323400
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CassBurger/pseuds/CassBurger
Summary: A pre-emptive rewriting of the end of RWBY cos I know I won't be happy with how M&K do it lmao. The story takes place during the final battle between Salem's army and Volume 1-3 gang, a year or more past where we are currently at in canon. It depicts the battle from various different points of view. Enjoy!





	There Is A Hell, Believe Me I've Seen It

### Chapter 1

A bullet went whizzing past Ruby's head. Had it not been for the blade that was crashing toward her temple that caused her to back her head well out of the way, it probably would have burst through her head. Here nothing was certain. Every opportunity she had, she took. Every chance she weighed briefly in her mind, she knew had a very real possibility of instant death as an outcome. Everywhere, everything, was all on fire. Half the landscape and scenery were dead bodies and fallen weapons. If there was such a thing as hell, this was the closest she would ever come to see it.  
  
The blade came crashing down at her again, but this time Ruby raised her own weapon to block it. The weapon was almost like a part of her; it had been her accomplice for as long as she had been fighting any battles. The scythe was almost twice her size and did a good job at taking a brunt of the impact. Usually. This opponent, however, was much stronger than any Grimm she had designed this weapon to fight against. She tried her best to hold her ground but the blow rippled through the scythe and knocked her to the ground.  
  
Her eyes watered, her mind buzzing. It was a weird hybrid space that her mind was in, both jarringly fast and slower than life all at once. As her view came into focus she noticed the hand laying next to her face. The body, or most of it, to which it belonged to lay about ten feet away from the hand. The sight almost made her vomit. To maintain her composure, what little she could manage, she had focused everything on her enemy. This had somewhat blinded her to the horrors around her. As her view came into focus even more she saw glimpses of other horrors. The shock was what gave her most of her energy to get up again and roll backwards, away from her fast approaching opponent.  
  
She stumbled over the uneven surfaces of bodies, rubble and shrapnel, all covering what were once steps leading up to a large door. The door no longer existed, nor did the building it was part of for that matter. The coating of blood over most of the ground didn't help either. Ruby found her footing and faced her enemy again, holding her scythe in front of her, ready to take another blow. She wasn't sure how much more she would have to take. She knew she would not win this fight. She just had to keep Salem at bay long enough for Ren and Nora to get to the temple.  
  
The large sword Salem held in her hand, rather lightly as if it were nothing, gleamed shades of bright red and maroon. The edge was not sharp anymore, this fight had seen to that. She did not need the sharpness for this kill though. A blunt edge would give a much more violent death, and Ruby knew that after all the trouble she had given Salem, the thought of a bloody, violent end to her must have made Salem salivate with delight.  
  
"It's over, little Red," Salem said rather calmly, but her eyes betrayed her demeanour. Ruby could see the fire behind her irises, could hear the catch of battle-crazed lunacy in her voice. "You've lost! All of your 'soldiers' are dead, and soon you will be too."  
  
Then Salem again performed her twisted act that had given her the edge at the beginning of this fight, the move that had put Ruby off, sent a tremor through her that was so much more than mere exhaustion. This fight had stretched on for eternity, but Ruby knew it had only been minutes. The blade in Salem's hand left her hand and hovered beside her head, as her arm came to rest lazily by her side again. It then split into 7 separate blades, with an almost agonisingly painful sound. It was as if the blades should not have come apart at all, as if to separate them was to tear their very souls in half.  
  
Ruby almost couldn't bear to see it, it was so reminiscent. Every time Salem raised this weapon, it only reminded Ruby of Penny's weapon. The way that her puppeteer act had allowed her to use her blades, the blades that were very much a physical part of her, in a very beautiful eloquent display, almost as if she were dancing. Ruby often found beauty in weapons and machines, but finding someone who could wield them that elegantly had instead sparked something else inside Ruby. She had not realised it then but it was so clear to her now that it had been love.  
  
They say the first is always the hardest. And it was true. Many close to her had died since then. She had grieved. She had missed. She had moved on. But the pain from Penny's passing lingered still. She remembered seeing her friend, lifelessly lying in the stadium floor, in pieces. In that moment she had felt her heart divide, as if as an echo of the same pieces. In that moment a part of her had changed forever. She felt completely and utterly hopeless, she felt a yearning sadness that nothing could stifle, but most of all she felt an anger, an anger with the world and the unfairness and wrongness of it that she had never felt before. Ruby had always believed there was good in everyone, and she was the most optimistic person in the world. She had always found the silver lining in any situation. That part of her was lost that night.  
  
That part of her was going to be satiated tonight. She had made a promise to herself that night to avenge Penny in any way she could. Now the person, the grand master planner, behind all of this, behind everyone, behind Pyrrha, behind _Penny _,__ was standing in front of her. Ruby spat blood out of her mouth onto the floor next to her and raised her scythe. She was sure there was a fire behind her own eyes as well now. She knew this was going to end now. She looked straight into Salem, scowling with all the rage and pain this war had brought her. She stared into her, as if trying to pierce Salem's very soul with her rage, and said, "Fuck you."

 

* * *

 

  
They crested the peak and looked back to find panoramic views of devastation. To the south west lay the smouldering ruins of the once great city of Mistral, still glowing orange. To the very north was a valley of fire and screams. Even from up here the sound of battle could be heard. In between the two was a clear path of devastation. The battle still wore on in places along here, as was clear by the occasional glint of metal through the trees, or a glowing projectile being propelled above towards either the north of the south. There were no longer clear enemy and allied lines. Where you stood you made your ground. If you lost ground you lost your life.  
  
Ren and Nora had left the battle almost as soon as it had begun. As much as it had pained them to leave their friends behind, it was necessary to the plan. Nora replayed yesterday's argument in her head again, for what felt like the millionth time. It felt like an eon ago now...  
  
_'_ _You can't take her alone!' Nora had said. 'She'll kill you! She's killed people much stronger than you, Ruby! It's- it's... It's a suicide mission!' She remembered the blank face Ruby had met her worry with. Nora had realised then that she had already fought this battle with herself in her head many time._  
_'I know,' she had responded with simply. 'But she expects me to try and stop her. So I will.' She had let out a sigh then that seemed much past her years. 'She'll never expect you two to go after the temple. She expects me to and I can't if I'm there fighting her. She wants me. This isn't about you guys.' Nora remembered wanting to run over and shake common sense into her at that point._  
_'Ruby she will_ kill _you! And there is nothing that can undo that. We started this together, why must you put it all on you now?!' Ruby had turned away at that point. Nora could have sworn it was because she was crying, but her voice had remained steady._  
_'You know that she wants me. If I only give her me then none of you will get hurt. I can't stand the thought of any more of you getting hurt.' She had turned back around to face them at this point. 'You can end this, end_ her _. But I need you to follow my plan. Please... can you do that for me?' The look in Ruby's eyes could not have gotten no for an answer. Nora had simply walked over to her and hugged her as tight as she could._  
_'Just know...' she had whispered in her ear at that point, 'that none of us can stand the thought of losing you too.'_  
  
Even now as she left the battle behind her and started descending the hill, she still tried to think of what she could have said better, all the things she said wrong, or didn't quite say how she meant it. She couldn't stand the thought that that had been the last proper conversation she would have with one of her best friends. A tear rolled down her face now just remembering Ruby. The smile she used to hold every day. It was her favourite part about her. She knew Ruby had her back no matter what. In the time they had spent trekking all over Remnant together they had grown very close. Already she felt like she were grieving. The thoughts that ran through her head were already past tense. She remembered what someone had once called that tone. Funeral voices.  
  
"The temple should be just past that clearing we saw from the top of the hill," Ren said, breaking the silence. Nora simply nodded. They trod on for a few more feet.  
"Ren..." Nora started, but Ren had already stopped. He continued staring at the ground, not facing her.  
"Look I don't like Ruby's plan either." He said, ridding the calm facade he had held. "I can already feel the feeling in my gut that says everyone over that hill is dead. All our friends. All of those innocent lives." He turned to face her now. His voice never raised, but the pain saturated it. "I can _feel_ it. And I'm not even sure that this stupid relic will do what everyone says it will. It's a myth. It could be all fake." He looked down at the ground again. Nora could feel tears welling up behind her eyes. "But Ruby is counting on us. So we have to continue. We have to follow through with the plan. So that even if she-" he faltered then, his voice breaking ever so slightly. "So that if she doesn't make it, we are at least honouring her memory by doing what she wanted us to do." At that Ren turned and began walking again. Nora followed suit without any question.  
  
Another dozen steps passed before Nora piped up again, little more than a whisper. "Ren... could you please hold my hand?" He said nothing, but simply reached over and grabbed Nora's hand. She felt safer and content now, even if only ever so slightly. She could feel Ren relax as well in her grip. They carried on down the path, away from their friends towards their apparent saviour. Away from their past towards Remnant's hopeful future.

 

* * *

  
   
  
Blinking tears out of her eyes, she regained consciousness to find dust and rubble surrounding her. Sitting up slowly, coughing out the dust that now filled her lungs, she brushed her blonde locks out of her face. Yang looked around and could see Weiss and Blake doing the same. She stood up and got her bearings again. She must have taken a hard hit to her head because everything was still spinning. Where the smoke was now clearing she could see what remained of the building they had been taking cover behind. The top two floors where now completely gone, bar a single brick towards the back, and the bottom floor had massive chunks missing out of most of the walls. Bodies now littered the rubble and debris around the building remains. Some, like Yang, Weiss, and Blake, were rising and coming around. Others wouldn't be rising again.  
  
"Weiss, how badly are you hurt?" Yang could hear Blake ask the heiress. They had landed closer together than Yang.  
"I'm fine, Blake. Nothing I haven't handled before." The limp and the way she now held her sabre said otherwise.  
"Yang, what about you?" Blake called out.  
"I'm fine." Yang replied. She looked at them both and showed her glowing red eyes. A long time ago her red glowering glare would have always been accompanied by a grin that said she could tear you apart and love doing so. That grin had long since faded now. Now she only had determination and anger on her face. Her lips were pressed into a hard line.  
  
She turned her attention to the battleground surrounding them. The very night around them had a distinct orange glow. Most everything was on fire or now rubble. Yang briefly took a moment to wonder how much of this valley was like that that now. I _'m part of the reason this has happened,_ she thought briefly. _This is my fault._ She caught herself and shook her head. _No,_ she reassured herself. This was not her doing. This was all because of Salem and her forces. She needed to stay focused in this fight. It was bloody and devastating now but it would be for the better. It _had_ to be, right?  
  
A group of enemies emerged out of the smoke. It took Yang less than a second to start running towards them at a full sprint. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Blake and Weiss doing likewise. When the distance between the two groups had halved the enemy group noticed them advancing. Yang let out a war cry and jumped in the air. The edge of her vision glowed gold and yellow. She pulled her right fist back behind her and loaded her gauntlet. The click next to her ear only strengthened her cry.  
  
Her first blow landed square in the middle of the first enemy's face, spurting blood out of his nose and instantly knocking him out. He fell to the floor as Yang rolled into her landing next to his limp body. She sprung up and powered her fist up into the next enemy just behind the first. She stumbled back and tripped over one of her counterparts behind her who had been felled by Weiss to her left. They all wore patterns of white and black, with red being lines coursing through their clothes. The masks they once wore were long lost in the battle.  
  
Yang quickly took in her surroundings and as she planned her next attack. Blake and Weiss were currently teaming up on a particularly large enemy wielding a mace the size of him. Weiss was bombarding him from every angle using her glyphs and Blake was off to the side shooting him. However Yang noticed a black streak following Weiss as she bounced from glyph to glyph, and she realised that whilst dealing each blow with Myrtenaster, she was also tying him up in the role of Gambol Shroud. Weiss landed next to Blake as she pulled on Gambol Shroud and brought the mace-wielded to the ground. Blake then fired two shots at his head and wound in her rope. The man would not be getting up again.  
  
Out of the corner of her eye, Yang noticed an enemy staggeringly standing and begin rushing at her. Yang simply raised her fist and cocked Ember Celica, before firing her most powerful shotgun barrel, propelling her elbow back into the face of her advancing attacker. She then ran up to the stump of a pillar and launched off it into the air. A small woman was advancing on Weiss with a small blade in each hand. Weiss had not noticed her. Yang came down hard and tackled the girl to the ground. She quickly rolled off her to stand up over her head and brought her foot down hard on the girl's forearm. The girl cried out in pain and dropped the blade in that arm. She rolled out of the way of Yang's second powerful downward blow and was in a standing position again. She raised her only remaining blade at Yang and launched at her Yang dodged out of the way and punched her in the back as she flew past, sending her sprawling. The blade clipped the side of Yang though, slicing a thin line of blood across her exposed midriff.  
  
Yang grunted in pain and she felt her eyes glow red with anger. The girl was getting up again, but a thin boy with a similar, yet longer, blade was advancing behind her to help out. Yang rushed to the girl and wrapped one arm around her neck in a choke hold, holding her up in front of her as a human shield. With her other fist she raised her fist and fired two shots at the boy. The first clipped his shoulder and the second took out his legs. She fired a third shot at his head and dirt exploded around him in a shower of red. There was no dignity in war, at least that's what Yang thought.  
  
Still holding the girl in front of her, she fired more covering fire at the few enemies running at Blake and Weiss. There were few left in this particular group, but they were swarming Blake now. Weiss had noticed, but she was in a desperate battle with another enemy of similar size, who wielded a broadsword that seemed to double as a pistol. Weiss was visibly exhausted already and she couldn't make it to Blake. Yang turned the girl around in front of her and kicked her in her gut, instantly winding her. She ran past the girl who fell to the ground clutching her stomach, over to Blake's aid. Raising her fist as she ran, she managed to bring down two enemies with her dust bullets. She slid under an opponent's legs and just for good luck, powered her fist into their groin, bringing them down. The sprung up and went back to back with Blake.  
"I had this covered!" Blake yelled over her shoulder.  
"Clearly!" Yang yelled back as she brought her fist down on one enemies face whilst firing at another's legs. "You're welcome!"  
  
The enemy got back up with a face full of blood, their nose completely broken, and raised their weapon at her. Yang charged at them and brought them to the ground, spear-tackling them. She got up, straddling the enemy, and brought her fist down into their face a second time, knocking them out this time as she got off them and looked around and the remaining group. Weiss had finally defeated her combatant, and Blake was just throwing a man onto the floor, pulling Gambol Shroud out of his chest in the process.  
"Is that it?" Weiss asked, huffing.  
"For now" Yang responded walking to the group. Halfway to Blake she raised her right fist and blindly shot at a fallen enemy who was getting to attack yet again. They now had a sizeable dent in their skull. Blake looked at her with an expression that said "Really?" while Weiss looked impressed. As Yang continued walking towards the group a bullet burst through Weiss's side, the trajectory originating behind her. She yelled out in pain and fell her one knee, clutching her side and dropping Myrtenaster.  
  
"Weiss!" Blake yelled out, her voice saturated with concern and shock, as she ran over to the heiress. Yang looked around and saw a tall girl with short hair holding a large-barrelled gun staggering into the square where the trio had been fighting from a side alley. Yang ran at her with an angry cry, as the attacker ran back through the alley.  
"Come here you fuck!" She shouted after the stranger. "Don't you think you can get away with this! You dare hurt my friend, fuck you! You're mine!" Yang continued yelling at the stranger as she followed her through the maze of alleyways. Eventually the girl arrived at a dead end and backed up into the end of the alley. Fear was displayed on her face.  
  
"Please," she pleaded with Yang, "This isn't my war, I'm just a pawn, please! I'm sorry." Something clicked inside Yang. She remembered all the times she had feared for her own life while waiting for her team to help her, not sure if they would make it, not sure if she would make it. Her face softened and the girl noticed. "Oh god, thank you," she whimpered. Yang, however, raised her fist and fired a single shot at the girl's side. The girl cried out and collapsed.  
"An eye for an eye," Yang said simply, before turning around and running back through the alleyways.  
  
She got back to the square to find Blake cradling Weiss on the floor. Yang quickly ran over to her side. "I'll be fine Blake, I just need a bandage," she coughed through her sentence. "Just get me back out there. Ruby needs us to do this!" She let out another cough. "Yang, we need to get her a medic." She held a steady tone but Yang could see the pleading in her eyes. Yang simply nodded. She tucked her arm under Weiss's leg and around her shoulder, while Blake did the same on her other side. They both stood up, raising her up off the ground, and started at a quick pace out of the square. "We should head for that building," Yang nodded towards a building that was still intact across the sea of rubble. "There might be something we can make a bandage out of there." Blake murmured agreement. They set off towards the building, carrying Weiss carefully over the uneven rubble. There was no way Yang was going to let this war take another one of her best friends, and she couldn't help but wonder how Ruby was going in her fight.


End file.
